Before the new regulations, which came into effect on July 7, the labor department said the company did not violate the Labor Contract Law, which came into effect on Jan 1, because the moves were a result of voluntary negotiations between the employer and employees.

Huawei did not comment on the China Youth Daily report yesterday.

More companies are reportedly getting involved in labor arbitration with the implementation of the Labor Contract Law, which many see as greatly improving workers' awareness of their rights in the workplace.

The number of cases involving labor dispute that were handled by all-level labor arbitration agencies in the first half of this year in Guangdong tripled year on year.

During the same period, Guangdong courts handled about 40,000 labor dispute cases, up 157.7 percent from last year. Those from the labor-intensive Pearl River Delta area accounted for 96.5 percent of all the cases.

(China Daily July 22, 2008)